At the time of the attack, there were more than 300 people in the establishment, some of them in wheelchairs or with physical disabilities. Local official denounces “brutal attack on civilians”.
On Friday, Russian strikes near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine hit a facility for the disabled, but no one was hurt, according to an initial assessment by emergency services.
330 people in the institution
“Today, the enemy struck at a specialized institution for the disabled near Oskol,” Oleg Sinegubov, head of the regional state administration, said on Telegram.
According to him, at the time of the attack, there were 330 people at the scene, including 10 in wheelchairs and 50 with disabilities. He added that 73 people were evacuated.
“Fortunately, there were no casualties,” Ukrainian aid reported a little later, adding that “the frame of the building was destroyed at the level of the 2nd and 3rd floors.”
“Brutal attack on civilians”
“The Russians have again committed a brutal attack on civilians,” Oleg Sinegubov lamented. “This is a war crime against the civilian population, the genocide of the Ukrainian people!” he criticized in his Telegram channel.
The shelling came two days after air strikes targeted a children’s hospital and maternity hospital in Mariupol, a besieged port in southern Ukraine. Three people, including a young girl, were killed and many others were injured as a result of these strikes, which caused outrage around the world.
According to Oleg Sinegubov, the Russian army “has no choice but to cynically attack civilians” in the face of resistance from the Ukrainian army after more than two weeks of fighting.